Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline to resume oil flow within days, says US Energy Secretary

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced on September 14 that Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline is expected to resume operations within days, following a drone attack that forced a precautionary shutdown earlier this month. The pipeline, better known as Petroline, is one of the most strategically important pieces of oil infrastructure on the planet. The 1,200-kilometer artery connects the Persian Gulf oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, giving Saudi Arabia a way to export crude without sending tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. When that chokepoint gets dicey, Petroline becomes the backup plan for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply. What happened and what comes next The latest attack, attributed to Iranian-backed militias, struck pumping stations along the pipeline around September 10-11. Saudi authorities shut down flows as a precaution and have been assessing the damage since. Wright’s comments suggest partial operations could restart quickly, though full repairs may take several weeks. The pipeline has a maximum design capacity of 7 million barrels per day, but flow estimates before the shutdown ranged between 2.6 million and 5 million bpd. This isn’t the first ...